Numbers 18

1 And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, You and your sons and your father's house shall bear the sins of the holy things, and you and your sons shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

And the Lord said to Aaron: “You, and your sons, and the house of your father with you, shall carry the iniquity of the Sanctuary. And you and your sons together shall bear the sins of your priesthood.

2 And take to yourself your brethren the tribe of Levi, the family of your father, and let them be joined to you, and let them minister to you; and you and your sons with you [shall minister] before the tabernacle of witness.

But take to yourselves also your brothers from the tribe of Levi, and the scepter of your father, and may they be prepared, and may they minister to you. Then you and your sons shall minister in the tabernacle of the testimony.

3 And they shall keep your charges, and the charges of the tabernacle; only they shall not approach the holy vessels and the altar, so both they and you shall not die.

And the Levites shall stand watch by your precepts, and for all the works of the tabernacle; yet in such a manner that they shall not approach the vessels of the Sanctuary and of the altar, lest both they die, and you perish, at the same time.

4 And they shall be joined to you, and shall keep the charges of the tabernacle of witness, in all the services of the tabernacle; and a stranger shall not approach to you.

But they may be with you, and they may watch over the care of the tabernacle and all its ceremonies. A foreigner shall not be mixed with you.

5 And you shall keep the charges of the holy things, and the charges of the altar, and [so] there shall not be anger among the children of Israel.

Watch over the care of the Sanctuary, and over the ministry of the altar, lest an indignation may rise over the sons of Israel.

6 And I have taken your brethren the Levites out of the midst of the children of Israel, a present given to the Lord, to minister in the services of the tabernacle of witness.

I have given your brothers, the Levites, to you from the midst of the sons of Israel, and I have delivered them as a gift to the Lord, in order to serve in the ministries of his tabernacle.

7 And you and your sons after you shall keep up your priestly ministration, according to the whole manner of the altar, and that which is within the veil; and you shall minister in the services as the office of your priesthood; and the stranger that comes near shall die.

But as for you and your sons: guard the priesthood. For all that pertains to the service of the altar and of what is beyond the veil shall be exercised by the priests. If any outsider will approach, he shall be killed.”

8 And the Lord said to Aaron, And, behold, I have given you the charge of the first fruits of all things consecrated to me by the children of Israel; and I have given them to you as an honor, and to your sons after you for a perpetual ordinance.

And the Lord said to Aaron: “Behold, I have given you custody of my first-fruits. Everything that is sanctified by the sons of Israel I have delivered to you and your sons, for the office of the priesthood, by everlasting ordinances.

9 And let this be to you from all the holy things that are consecrated [to me, even] the burnt offerings, from all their gifts, and from all their sacrifices, and from every trespass-offering of theirs, and from all their sin-offerings, whatever things they give to me of all their holy things, they shall be your and your sons'.

Therefore, you shall receive these, from the things that are sanctified and offered to the Lord. Every offering, and sacrifice, and whatever is repaid to me, on behalf of sin and also for offenses, and which becomes the Holy of holies, shall be for you and for your sons.

10 In the most holy place shall you eat them; every male shall eat them, you and your sons: they shall be holy to you.

You shall eat it in the Sanctuary. Only the males shall eat from it, because it has been consecrated for you.

11 And this shall be to you of the first fruits of their gifts, of all the wave-offerings of the children of Israel; to you have I given them and to your sons and your daughters with you, a perpetual ordinance; every clean person in your house shall eat them.

But the first-fruits, which the sons of Israel shall vow and offer, I have given to you, and to your sons, as well as to your daughters, by a perpetual right. Whoever is clean in your house shall eat them.

12 Every first-offering of oil, and every first-offering of wine, their first fruits of corn, whatever they may give to the Lord, to you have I given them.

All the innermost of the oil, and of the wine, and of the grain, whatever first-fruits they offer to the Lord, I have given to you.

13 All the first fruits that are in their land, whatever they shall offer to the Lord, shall be your: every clean person in your house shall eat them.

All the first of the crops, which the soil produces and which are carried to the Lord, shall fall to your use. Whoever is clean in your house shall eat them.

14 Every devoted thing among the children of Israel shall be your.

All that the sons of Israel shall repay by vow shall be yours.

15 And every thing that opens the womb of all flesh, whatever they bring to the Lord, whether man or beast, shall be your: only the firstborn of men shall be surely redeemed, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean cattle.

Whatever goes out first from the womb, of all flesh, which they offer to the Lord, whether from men or from cattle, shall be your right; yet only in so far as, for the firstborn of man, you shall accept a price. And every animal that is unclean you shall cause to be redeemed.

16 And the redemption of them [shall be] from a month old; their valuation of five shekels—it is twenty oboli according to the holy shekel.

And its redemption shall be, after one month, five shekels of silver, by the weight of the Sanctuary. A shekel has twenty obols.

17 But you shall not redeem the firstborn of calves and the firstborn of sheep and the firstborn of goats; they are holy: and you shall pour their blood upon the altar, and you shall offer the fat as a burnt offering for a smell of sweet savor to the Lord.

But the firstborn of a cow, or of a sheep, or of a goat, you shall not cause to be redeemed, because they have been sanctified to the Lord. Thus, their blood you shall pour out upon the altar, and their fat you shall burn as a most sweet odor to the Lord.

18 And the flesh shall be your, as also the breast of the wave-offering and as the right shoulder, it shall be your.

Yet truly, the flesh shall fall to your use, just as the consecrated breast and the right shoulder shall be yours.

19 Every special offering of the holy things, whatever the children of Israel shall specially offer to the Lord, I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters with you, a perpetual ordinance: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord, for you and your seed after you.

All the first-fruits of the Sanctuary, which the sons of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and to your sons as well as to your daughters, as a perpetual right. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord, for you and for your sons.”

20 And the Lord said to Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them; for I [am] your portion and your inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel.

And the Lord said to Aaron: “In their land, you shall possess nothing; neither shall you have a portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance in the midst of the sons of Israel.

21 And, behold, I have given to the sons of Levi every tithe in Israel for an inheritance for their services, whenever they perform ministry in the tabernacle of witness.

But I have given, to the sons of Levi, all the tithes of Israel as a possession, for the ministry by which they serve me in the tabernacle of the covenant,

22 And the children of Israel shall no more draw near to the tabernacle of witness to incur fatal guilt.

so that the sons of Israel may no longer approach to the tabernacle, nor commit deadly sin.

23 And the Levite himself shall perform the service of the tabernacle of witness; and they shall bear their iniquities, it is a perpetual statute throughout their generations; and in the midst of the children of Israel they shall not receive an inheritance.

Only the sons of Levi may serve me in the tabernacle and may carry the sins of the people. It shall be an everlasting ordinance in your generations. They shall possess nothing else;

24 Because I have given as a distinct portion to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes of the children of Israel, whatever they shall offer to the Lord; therefore I said to them, In the midst of the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

being content with the oblation of tithes, which I have separated for their uses and necessities.”

25 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

26 You shall also speak to the Levites, and shall say to them, If you take the tithe from the children of Israel, which I have given you from them for an inheritance, then shall you separate from it a heave-offering to the Lord, a tenth of the tenth.

“Instruct the Levites, and also declare to them: When you will receive, from the sons of Israel, the tithes, which I have given to you, offer their first-fruits to the Lord, that is, the tenth part of a tenth,

27 And your heave-offerings shall be reckoned to you as corn from the floor, and an offering from the wine-press.

so that it may be accounted to you as an oblation of the first-fruits, as much from the threshing floors as from the oil and wine presses.

28 So shall you also separate them from all the offerings of the Lord out of all your tithes, whatever you shall receive from the children of Israel; and you shall give of them an offering to the Lord to Aaron the priest.

And offer the first-fruits of everything, from which you receive tithes, to the Lord, and give them to Aaron the priest.

29 Of all your gifts you shall offer an offering to the Lord, and of every first-fruit the consecrated part from it.

Everything which you shall offer from the tithes, and which you shall separate as gifts to the Lord, shall be the finest and most select.

30 And you shall say to them, When you shall offer the first fruits from it, then shall it be reckoned to the Levites as produce from the threshing floor, and as produce from the wine-press.

And you shall say to them: ‘If you offer the noble and the better of the tithes, it shall be accounted to you as if you had given from the first-fruits of the threshing floor and of the oil and wine presses.’

31 And you shall eat it in any place, you and your families; for this is your reward for your services in the tabernacle of witness.

And you shall eat these in all your places, both you and your families, because it is your price for the ministry, by which you serve in the tabernacle of the testimony.

32 And you shall not bear sin by reason of it, for you shall have offered an offering of first fruits from it, and you shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you die not.

And you shall not sin in this way: by reserving the excellent and fat things for yourselves, lest you pollute the oblations of the sons of Israel, and lest you die.”